Polestar started life as a racing team competing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship. It later became Volvo’s in-house performance division – Gothenburg’s answer to AMG or BMW M – before separating into a standalone car brand. Both Polestar and Volvo are divisions of Geely, the Chinese automotive giant that also owns Lotus.
Polestar is now a fully electric brand, but its first solo effort was a plug-in hybrid. Launched in 2019, the Polestar 1 combined a 601bhp petrol and electric drivetrain with elegant coupe styling and a six-figure price tag. Noted journalist and friend of Ti Chris Harris is a fan, having added one to his car collection.
Arriving in 2020, the Polestar 2 was markedly more mainstream: a family-sized crossover to take on the Tesla Model 3. Ti co-founder Dan Prosser has driven the standard model, the Performance Pack version and the new Polestar 2 Single Motor (see reviews below). It’s one of our favourite real-world EVs.
Polestar has big plans, too. A ‘5’ saloon is under development, and set to take on the Porsche Taycan, while the ‘6’ is an electric sports car to rival the forever-delayed Tesla Roadster. Electric cars are about to get far more interesting…
